Location Description:

The 16-foot Buddha statue lording over the dining room is a sign of the opulent experience that awaits you. The space used to be a stable owned by the Vanderbilt family before it became a balconied movie theater; today, it is a three-story restaurant with 300 seats, including a skybox that looks over the whole spectacle. The Pan-Asian menu focuses mainly on Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine. There is a sizable selection of seafood dishes such as ginger-and-soy-glazed salmon and coconut shrimp with spicy peanut sauce, along with meatier fare like a Kobe beef ribeye served with yuzu cilantro butter. As you would expect with such a trendy venue, specialty cocktails are big here, most with Asian touches like lychee and ginger. Asian beers, bourbon, sake and an international wine list complete the ample alcohol offerings. Despite the relatively high price point, Tao does brisk business in take-out, mostly to the surrounding offices in midtown.â€”Keith Wagstaff